Pastor Rev. Dr. Jermaine Mulley
Members and friends of the St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church are being invited to join Pastor Rev. Dr. Jermaine Mulley this Sunday at the church located in Estate Grove as part of the ministry's 102 years of existence.
"Our elaborate plans to celebrate the 100th Anniversary were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So, here we are, two years later, grateful to God that none of our members died due to Covid. We are alive to see each other’s face! Glory and praise unto Jesus for His redeeming grace," said Rev. Mulley.
According to the release, on March 20, 1920, two years after the pandemic of 1918, former members of the Holy Cross Episcopal Church, led by Pastor Reginald Grant Barrow, were accepted into the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. They had walked out of Holy Cross Episcopal Church due to the Episcopal Bishop’s demands that Pastor Barrow’s preaching and teaching not include references to the socio-economic and other negative impacts of slavery and racism upon the members of the congregation. These “churchless” wanderers found themselves worshipping under a tamarind tree in Grove Place until David Hamilton Jackson, a local freedom fighter, recommended that they seek to be connected into the AME Church in America. Mr. Jackson and the Labor Union were also instrumental is providing the land upon which the current sanctuary is located.
Over the church's 102 years of service, ten pastors have provided spiritual leadership to the St. Luke family. Its current pastor, Rev. Mulley, is the second “son of St. Croix soil” to serve for the past three and a half years. (Rev. Dr. Vincent Gordon was the first native son) Rev. Mulley is married to Elect Lady Cliaunjel, and they have a daughter, Genesis, according to the release.
"Our anniversary message will be delivered by Reverend Dr. Keith Donaldson D. Lawrence, who hails from the island nation of Trinidad," said Rev. Mulley. "He was called to ministry and ordained in the AME Church at the youthful age of 18. He relocated to the United States to further his education and has earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and Philosophy; Master of Divinity degree, and Doctor of Ministry degree. He currently serves as the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, and was recently appointed as the Pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church located at 2046 Richard Allen Lane SE, Atlanta, GA. 30316, where he and his wife continue to follow God’s call to win souls for the kingdom."
Dr. Lawrence will also perform a doctoral robing ceremony to celebrate Rev. Mulley’s completion of his doctor of ministry degree from Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. Payne, an AMEC institution of higher education, is the oldest free-standing African American seminary in the United States. Rev. Mulley’s degree concentration was biblical, political and social ethics, according to the release.
St. Luke is located at 28 Grove Place, Frederiksted. The service will begin at 11:00 a.m. It will be livestreamed via Facebook and YouTube at St. Luke AME Church-St. Croix.
"To be a blessing in your giving, you may send your contributions via: Givelify: St. Luke AME Church - St. Croix, or PayPal: Stlukeame340," the ministry said.
For more information contact Rev. Mulley at 340 277-0501.
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